The water was the perfect temperature in the YMCA pool, the other students in the water balance class were amicable, and the instructor Cindy was lively and motivational on more levels that just physically maximizing the class for us. I was enthusiastically paddling through the moves of the class, with my usual, occasional loss of balance, when Cindy philosophically quipped, apropos of nothing that I had noticed, "It takes a team to live a life." That literally stopped me in midstride. I instantly realized that instead of trying to work harder to carry my heavy life tasks alone, I need to find a team to help and encourage me; my old team having gone into the nursing home, died, become dem

It was my first appointment with a new doctor to discuss my chronic hip and lower back pain. Three patients were waiting to be seen, a middle-aged white man, a middle-aged black man with his white wife, and old me, female and alone. I waited to see how we each would be treated, because I instantly saw that this new doctor's male nurse was a bit flaky. First called into the examination area was the middle aged white man, "Mr. Slaughter. Step this way, Sir. Right this way..." Mr. Slaughter strutted down the center of the hall, cosseted by the male nurse's steady stream of respect. Next up was the biracial couple. The male nurse approached rapidly and bend over them from behind their couc

Thanksgiving is still one of my favorite holidays, but I have no one to enjoy my good cooking on Thanksgiving Day*, but me. I will have to develop some age-appropriate ways to celebrate and give thanks for the bounty of life. For example, I used to bake a mincemeat pie, an apple pie, and a pumpkin pie for dessert so that everyone had their favorite kind of pie. This year to celebrate Thanksgiving I bedazzled a pumpkin in this artwork. Pretty. For my meal I cooked half a duck in orange sauce, a delicious novelty from Aldi. ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... * "Thanksgiving Day is a national holiday celebrated on various dates in Canada, the United States, some of the Caribbean

As I age I have to put a little more effort into the holidays if I am to enjoy them. I have some plans this year for Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve and Day, New Year's Eve, and my birthday on February 10, 2020 when I will become seventy-one years old. Not so easy to celebrate with just one of me in on the festivities. I thought about ordering prepared food from one of the nicer home delivery vendors, such as Schwan's, "Since 1952, Schwan's™ Home Service has been delivering delicious mealtime solutions." But friends have served me Schwan's appetizers and such, and while the appearance of the food is very attractive, the heavily processed texture and the chemical aftertaste were off-putting.

I believe that more than one fourth of America is public land which is controlled by bureaucratic misanthropes who hate humans and mismanage the land...not to mention their controlling neglect of our infrastructure, government services facilities, public housing, and other vital parts of our cityscapes. Often we cannot even get out onto the public lands to see what they have been doing to it. I am so very sorry to be leaving a world to the youth of today where they cannot even get out of their apartment boxes in cities to enjoy their birthright of fully experiencing the world. Caption: One Fourth Of America Is Public Land Under The Control Of Bureaucrats Who Hate Humans And Mismanage It.

There is a new phenomenon in 2019, that I never seen before. I have never even heard of it before. It is when a child watches out for you, and then when you walk into position, they spin around, aim their back at you, and run backwards to ram into you, saying "Sorry, sorry!" in a singsong voice. This has happened three times in the first month that I have been going to the YMCA in Bloomington, Illinois for physical therapy. In fact the third incident was actually an adult who pulled this child's ramming trick. I saw what the trick was when the first child tried to ram me. I was running a little late for class so I thought that I was only one in the locker room, but then I heard it breat

For the past decade I have had a dozen gallons of water sitting in a corner of my basement, plus there is the water in my hot water heater, and a case of water bottles in the downstairs refrigerator, so I am good on water for a month or so in the event of TEOTWAWKI (The End Of The World As We Know It). I also have a month or two supply of canned goods in my pantry, which I rotate into cooking and then replace. I have a Bug-Out-Bag which I toss in the trunk of my car when I go on a day trip. So, yes I am prepared but that is the extent of it. Until today when I purchased a new reflective shirt and cap to keep in the car in case of emergency. Being prepared is a warm, comfortable feeling.

Well, it comes as no surprise to me that I have been recommended for surgery on the base of my spine, precisely in the center of my hips where the nerves are particularly pinched, but it is a shock. What to do, what to do? Doctors say that if I do nothing I might become incontinent, lose increasingly more of my ability to walk, and suffer increasingly more pain. If surgery is successful I would be able to walk well again, maybe even be entirely pain free for the last two decades of my life. If surgery is unsuccessful I could become paralyzed and never walk again, or even die if my weak heart failed to beat through the anesthesia and trauma of surgery. What to do, what to do? For over a

Ten dips in a chlorinated swimming pool and my hair stopped falling out. An undercoat may even be growing back. I have been quite distressed this year by a steady loss of what had once been thick, fine hair. In my old age of attrition I was losing a brush full of fine, white hair every day. But age seventy had seemed too soon for that magnitude of hair loss, for the high upward creep of my hairline, the widening of my part. And I seemed to smell weird. Chlorine is an excellent, naturally occurring, antimicrobial and fungicide. When used in steady moderation like regular dips in the YMCA swimming pool, is it possible that the chlorine killed off some vicious bacteria or virus, wiped out

I commented online that I LOVE this 21st century music, it makes me think deeply and feel far. Thank you, please give me MORE. Dragon Feet by Vcompare (No copyright Music), Published on Aug 22, 2019 This song was composed by Sunny D Blah Instagram @fender_wall_707 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LmnTXQVyyfo Caption: Music That Makes Me Think Deeply And Feel Far by Annmarie Throckmorton 2019

Three years after my father passed, the McLean County Board of Elections still maintains him on their voter list, even though years ago I took his death certificate and my Executor of Estate Paperwork in to them and asked them to remove him from their voter list so as to remove any possibility of voter fraud in his name. They refused to do so, putting me off with all sorts of nonsense such as, it is on the list but it really isn't on the list, they don't know how to remove it, and they will remove it later if I would just go away now. Then when these arrogant cheats (Democrats?) sell their voter list to iffy vendors like the Brilliant Water Company, whose claim is "Learn how our family's 7

This week I went to the United States Postal Service post office located at 1211 Towanda Ave, Bloomington, IL 61701, which is the same post office I have gone to for the past decade and more; only to find it closed, with a hand-written note taped to the door directing customers to the post office located around the block at 1511 E Empire St, Bloomington, IL 61701. I schlepped my mail on over there to post it, and to see what was going on. In 2007 when I bought my house in this neighborhood I had asked at the post office why there were two very large postal facilities within a few blocks of each other, and I was told to mind my own business. I persisted in asking Why? and was rudely told th

Caption: The following is correspondence regarding the "problem" of me being seven minutes too late for my doctor appointment due to the onset of a blizzard in Bloomington-Normal, Illinois just prior to my appointment. It is yet another example of the new legal focus of medical care; as it is a rude letter that serves no function other than to ensure Advocate Medical Group is paid for the appointment that they denied to me, even though I was there and there was not one other patient in the facility. It appears to me that the medical profession has stopped keeping medical charts on patients, and instead is keeping legal records for the dual purpose of forestalling any liability and maximizi

Do I want to go shopping, ever again? No, I feel that I have enough to see me out. Caption: I Have Enough To See Me Out. by Annmarie Throckmorton 2019

If I could be reincarnated as an animal, which animal would I chose? A day would be enough, for as a mayfly I would flit about in sexual ecstasy with countless other mayflies in a shimmering, pheromone cloud of nuptial dance, a passionate way to pass the last day of my life as a mayfly. "The brief lives of mayfly adults have been noted by naturalists and encyclopaedists since Aristotle and Pliny the Elder in classical times." Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mayfly Caption: Mayfly For A Day by Annmarie Throckmorton 2019

Using Avatar Maker, I chose each of the components of this avatar, mouth, nose, eyes, glasses, clothing, color, context, and so on; so I suppose it is mine. I just do not see the appeal, is there a sexual element here that I am missing? Something galvanizing to young men about the tiny facial features, the huge, tearful eyes? It seems like a waste of the twenty seconds that it took me to make it, but these images are stock and trade in anime and manga game culture. That big money making business seems deformed, perverted very far from reality. Caption: Avatar Generated by Annmarie Throckmorton using Avatar Maker 2019

They say "sissy pants" is a new insult in Asia. Well, if someone calls you "sissy pants", whether you are man or woman, and you don't want to punch them in the nose, you are de facto sissy pants. There are a lot of ways to punch, physical and nonphysical, but whining isn't one of them. — AdroitWaterBear But actually what they are calling each other is "little fresh meat", which has less to do with feminization and much more to do with homosexuality. Caption: CHINA Accuses the CIA of DESTROYING ASIAN MASCULINITY Black Pigeon Speaks, 11-14-19

What If I Could Talk To Anyone In The World? My first thought is that I would not want to put myself out there, I am retired in more ways than literally. However, for the sake of humanity and this thought exercise...I would. The question, of course, is whether to reach out to a saint or a sinner? In my experience, bad people are incorrigible and impervious to any suggestions that they change for the better; and good people are already doing their maximum to better the world so other than curses or praise as might be their due, there is little to be said by me to either group. All of my adult life I had access to anyone in the world, in the usual way of writing to them. I do not now need

Alert: Ribald Content Although there doesn’t seem to be anything definitive in mainstream academia, I recently heard on YouTube that the honorific "Sir" in ancient Sumerian* meant "Big Snake"; conjuring up images of men in antiquities greeting each other with a hearty, reassuring, or perchance an ironic "Good day to you, Big Snake"; perhaps grasping each other's members as aboriginals were wont to do before the humanity was purged of that primal behavior. If true, this would have been an endless source of amusement and stife as men jockeyed for position. There is simply no equivalent for women, unless it would be, "Ma'am, I greet your mammaries." ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...

As a litigant in a law case in Cook County, Chicago, Illinois, it is my responsibility to notice my defendants with exact copies of every document that enters my case, including judge's orders to schedule hearings. All I can say is that the Illinois, Cook County, Clerk of Court, Law Division's conversion from paper files to online filings has been rife... After my most recent hearing I sought a copy of the scheduling judge's order setting a date for prove-up against my last defaulting defendant; but I was told that I would have to come back the next day as the scheduling judge puts his seal on all of his orders at one time-at the end of each day. When I explained that I do not live in Chic